FIG. 1 is an air-bearing surface (ABS) view of a conventional magnetic recording transducer 10. The magnetic recording transducer 10 may be a perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) head. The conventional transducer 10 includes an underlayer 12 that may include a leading shield, side gap 14, side shields 16, top gap 17, a top (or trailing) shield 18, main pole 20, return pole 22 and top pole 24.
The main pole 20 resides on an underlayer/leading shield 12 and includes sidewalls that form a nonzero angle with the down track direction at the ABS. The side shields 16 are separated from the main pole 20 by a side gap 14. The side shields 16 extend at least from the top of the main pole 20 to the bottom of the main pole 20 in the region near the main pole 16. The side shields 16 also extend a distance back from the ABS. The gap 14 between the side shields 16 and the main pole 20 may have a substantially constant thickness. Thus, the side shields 16 are conformal with the main pole 20.
Although the conventional magnetic recording head 10 functions, the conventional magnetic recording head 10 is desired to be used at higher areal densities. Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for improving the performance of a magnetic recording head at higher areal densities and, therefore, lower track widths.